After sending off those who left for the bamboo forest, Eunho and Jeokho returned to the hall and drank tea.
Jeokho was unable to calm himself down so Eunho served him tea, but it did not work very well.
Throughout their tea session, Jeokho looked in the direction of the forest, his nervousness completely apparent.
He took his time sending off Kim Shinrok, even giving him loads of advice, but he still wasn’t relieved.
“You must be very worried about your son.”
“It’s my son’s first time going to the garden.”
Gardens — a reconstructed otherworld ruled by an owner.
In other words, the Tiger Clan’s garden was an otherworld created and maintained by the power of the Tiger Clan.
Descendants cannot resist or harm things that are related to their source.
From Jeokho’s perspective, it’s like his son was entering a fire pit naked.
Even though his son was accompanied by his friends and family, he still didn’t feel relieved.
“The garden is unstable. There was even a problem with a letter that was sent last time. What if the space suddenly transforms and my son becomes isolated inside?”
“I’ve heard of that. The chief sorcerer’s student used her strong powers which affected the garden.”
“Yes, so we’re not sure what could happen inside and…”
“Jukho tested his student’s energy waves in advance. You don’t have to worry.”
Eunho tried to reassure Jeokho by presenting to him the result of the test.
Jeokho listened as he scanned through the table again and again.
“You gave your son a lot of advice before he left, right? Even if something happens, he’ll overcome it through your advice, Jeokho-nim.”
“…Looking back, I think I forgot to tell him some other things.”
“Your son is wise. What you gave should be enough.”
Starting with that, Eunho continued praising Kim Shinrok.
After a few minutes of praise coming from Eunho’s mouth, Jeokho finally began to regain stability.
He finally took a proper sip of his tea, and Eunho prepared another helping with a soft smile.
While a new pot of tea was boiling, Jeokho asked.
“…There’s something I want to ask, Eunho.”
“Go ahead please.”
Jeokho struggled to find words.
As the silence continued, Eunho squinted and looked at Jeokho.
He guessed what Jeokho was trying to bring up considering what they had been talking about and also considering Jeokho’s hesitation.
‘…Jeokho-nim wants to talk about that.’
Even if the time when Jeokho was madly in love was in the distant past, and even though Jeokho has completely rectified and changed himself, he lived as a sinner for a long time and his fiery temper still remained.
Unlike Hwangho and Baekho, Jeokho had a son.
Eunho expected Jeokho to bring this up.
“Don’t you miss your descendants?”
Eunho, who has been speaking eloquently til now, couldn’t find the words to speak.
He could hardly move his lips even though he expected the question.
“I couldn’t bear not seeing my son the whole time I was locked up. I missed him, worried about him, and I wondered how he was. Even though I know how heavy my sin is.”
“…”
“Why did you hide the existence of your descendant? Why do you still refuse to see your grandchildren?”
Everyone else was probably sharing the same thought as Jeokho.
They were happy that Eunho woke up and were considerate of him.
However, he couldn’t rely on that forever.
The existence of his descendants wasn’t something that should be ignored.
‘…Three of my descendants are in this mansion, and two of them will enter Eungwang High next year. It will be harder to hide it.’
Eunho stared at the lukewarm tea with subdued eyes, quietly lost in thought.
The appearance of silver-haired children, those who he has never seen before, flashed before his eyes.
The feeling of warmth, when he held his child in his arms before leaving her to Ok Toyeon, was still vivid.
He felt affection, and yet anger and guilt at the same time.
He took a deep breath to calm his agitation.
“I haven’t told this to Hwangho-nim or Baekho hyungnim. The only one who knows in this world is… Toyeon-nim. I left her in charge of my child.”
Jeokho was openly dissatisfied at the mention of Ok Toyeon’s name.
Jeokho still had a grudge against the fact that the Rabbit Clan continued to hide Eunho’s descendant.
Even now, Jeokho feels agitated when he sees the logo of the moon rabbit rice cake brand.
“Do you remember the tianji that I saw?”
“…I do.”
At some point, Eunho stopped relying on it.
At that time, the power of Cheonshin (Heavenly God) was gradually disappearing on the Korean Peninsula, so Jeokho and the other tigers assumed that the influence would lessen as well.
It was a mysterious time, and no one questioned the mysterious force.
“I read the future that the child of the head of the Tiger Clan will become a warrior who will defend this land. I had a child with a human witch who had the same prophecy as me.”
“…What!”
Jeokho was flustered by the sudden rush of information.
In a surprised state, he tried to think of a human shaman, but it wasn’t easy.
Even if he remembers some shaman, he couldn’t remember what kind of person she was.
At that time, in the eyes of Jeokho, all beings other than Ungnyeo and his friends were uninteresting.
“…Why did you hide the child?”
“If there’s anyone who’s after the Korean Peninsula, they will come after my child first.”
At Eunho’s clear answer, Jeokho sank in his seat.
If there was a child who received such a prophecy, the Bear Clan wouldn’t have hesitated to kill that descendant.
Even if the existence of the prophecy was kept secret, there may be other beings who could read the future.
Eunho’s words continued.
“The human shaman died after giving birth to the child. Left alone, I tried to hide my child’s existence until she grew up to be a warrior. But… I changed my mind after getting a new prophecy.”
“There was another prophecy?”
“Yes. That my brother and friends would die protecting my child.”
Jeokho’s eyes opened wide.
There weren’t many beings that Eunho consider as his friends.
According to that prophecy, Baekho, Hwangho, Cheongho, and Jeokho would die while protecting Eunho’s descendant.
“I decided to defy the will of the heavens. That’s why I vowed not to acknowledge that child until that child is dead. That way, she’s not the child of the clan head.”
There was no trace of regret in Eunho’s eyes.
Jeokho couldn’t imagine how Eunho managed to push away his blood relative just like that.
‘If my son was born with such a fate, and if I knew of it…’
Just the thought of it made Jeokho’s eyes turn dark.
After barely regaining his spirit, Jeokho spoke again.
“Was there any other way? Instead of the moon rabbit, maybe have her adopted in the Tiger Clan’s…”
“I couldn’t do that. No, I shouldn’t do that.”
Eunho sternly denied his idea.
His attitude made Jeokho somewhat suspicious.
‘…Is there something else?’
Eunho didn’t speak until he emptied another cup of tea.
“What we’re going to talk about is something that even Toyeon-nim doesn’t know. …Toyeon-nim raise that child though, so she must’ve noticed it to some extent.”
“Ok Toyeon isn’t the brightest so perhaps she hasn’t noticed.”
Jeokho made a face at the mention of Ok Toyeon.
Eunho smiled softly.
“Your son was born strong and intelligent, Jeokho-nim.”
“…?”
Jeokho titled his head at the unexpected words.
Of course, he agreed that his son was strong and smart.
However, he couldn’t figure out why it was suddenly brought up after the mention of Ok Toyeon.
“My child wasn’t.”
Grief, anger, and guilt smeared Eunho’s voice.
“I, I couldn’t… I couldn’t protect my child from the traitor. From her mother.”
“What? Didn’t you say the human shaman died?”
Eunho mentioned that the human shaman died after giving birth.
How could the shaman harm his child?
The child was left with Ok Toyeon and survived.
Jeokho tried to organize his thoughts, but he couldn’t find an answer.
Eunho only nodded.
“She died. Because of harming my child and defying the will of the heaven.”
“…!”
“My child was born helpless. The flow of her chi was completely blocked, and her body was unwell. Instead of becoming a warrior, she became something else.”
Jeokho felt as if lightning had struck him at the news of the shaman harming Eunho’s child.
If all of Eunho’s words were true, the human shaman would’ve brought harm to the child while she was in her body.
The latter part of Eunho’s words caught Jeokho’s attention, but something else was more important than that.
“So the reason for the new prophecy was…”
“Because my child has lost the strength to fight as a warrior.”
Jeokho was speechless.
He understood now why Eunho hid his descendant.
“A tiger descendant who cannot fight. Can a child born with the fate of getting caught up in the heroes of the Tiger Clan be safe among her people?”
Eunho’s eyes turned toward the main house where his grandchildren were.
Jeokho saw the longing in his eyes, something that happened for the first time.
* * *
My vision changed rapidly as soon as I stepped into the space.
Inside the Tiger Clan’s garden, the scenery was a mountain.
A second ago we were deep into a bamboo forest, and now we were deep in the mountains.
‘It’s my first time in an SSR-rank faux reality otherworld. The air’s different.’
In the SSR-rank otherworld in Hongcheon, we were on the defensive side.
And although I experienced an SSR-rank otherworld through the old simulator in the secret passage, this one is completely different.
The scale and effect of the energy pressure were completely different from those of SR-rank otherworlds.
Fwaaaaat!
Hwang Jiho developed a golden boundary as soon as we entered.
The air became lighter as Hwang Jiho’s fingertips closed the boundary.
“Alright. Don’t go out of the boundary.”
I could protect myself with my own energy waves.
It seems like this tiger is acting like a clan head.
The boundary skill summoned by Hwang Jiho enveloped us all, and we all moved together with him.
Jukho admired Hwang Jiho’s boundary skill, saying that it was a high-level skill that he could not imitate.
“…Alright, I’ll show you around.”
Jukho began to walk with a bamboo lamp.
“Can you tell me what torture you’re going to do?”
“I have a few in mind, and I’m curious what you’re going to do first.”
The tiger couple spoke to Kim Shinrok while we walked.
He diligently explained the torture plans for today.
“With the help of Jukho-nim, we will distort the time axis and proceed with the torture. The person would probably experience time 100 times slower.”
Kim Shinrok took out a tightly sealed envelope from his arms.
The tigers looked wary.
“I’ll use a nightmare dust today. It’s a trace of the nightmare Insomnium left in this world.”
